Noah was forced to kneel on the marble floor and clean guests’ shoes like a servant.

By mid-morning, the police had been notified. Officers had been dispatched to Elias’s home and his office. We sat in the library waiting, the silence stretching thin and sharp. Daniel joined me an hour later. He looked exhausted—pale, unshaven, eyes red-rimmed. He walked in slowly, keeping his distance, as if afraid I would order him out.

“Sarah told you?” he asked quietly.

“Elias is missing,” I said. “His house is empty. His office is locked. No one has seen him since he called me last night.”

Daniel sank into a chair, burying his face in his hands. “Elias. Of all people. Why would he—”

“He is not the one who did this,” I said. “He was warning me. Someone got to him.”

Daniel looked up sharply. “Warning you about what?”

“That Noah is the key to something my father hid. Something they will kill to find.” I leaned forward, searching his face. “Daniel, what did your mother know? What did Elias mean?”

Daniel went very still. He looked at the closed door, then at Sarah, then back at me.

“I should have told you months ago,” he said, his voice low. “I was afraid. Afraid you would think I was part of it. Afraid if I spoke… they would hurt Noah.”

“Tell me now,” I said.

He took a deep breath.

“Your father discovered something. Before he died. Something about the Holloway family. About how the fortune was actually made. He told me he was leaving me proof. Evidence that would bring Evelyn down forever. But he said it was dangerous. That people had already died for it. He said he was entrusting it to Noah—because Noah was the only one Evelyn would never suspect held the truth.”

My heart hammered. “Where?”

“I do not know. He said it was hidden where no one would look. Protected by law. Protected by blood. Protected until Noah was old enough to understand.” Daniel leaned forward, his eyes intense. “Elias was the only other person who knew. He helped your father hide it. And then… someone began threatening Elias. He told me someone had been pressuring him for months. To sign documents. To transfer funds. To hand over whatever your father left behind.”

“Someone?” I asked. “Who?”

Daniel’s face went pale.

“He never said a name. Only that it was someone inside the family. Someone your father trusted. Someone who stood to lose everything if the truth came out.”

The door suddenly flew open. A police officer stood there, breathless, his uniform dusty.

“Mrs. Holloway,” he said, looking straight at me. “We found Elias’s car. Abandoned on the edge of town. There was a note taped to the steering wheel.”